2017 Working for Queensland Employee Opinion Survey

In early 2017, the Public Service Commission adjusted the scheduling of the Working for Queensland Employee Opinion Survey from April 2017 to August 2017. As a result of this change, the survey was not conducted during the reporting year for the whole of government. With this in mind, effort has been placed on progressing the focus areas from the 2016 survey.

TMR developed an EOS Action Plan 2016–17 to address key employee engagement focus areas. Actions include a departmental action and branch actions. The departmental action was to pilot the Passport to Leadership Program. This program was developed to address middle manager capability, with a focus on performance conversations, decision making and flexibility. The pilot for this program commenced in April 2017.

Branch level actions were developed to address branch specific challenges. Some examples of branch actions that have been implemented during 2016–17 are represented in the table below.

Table – Employee Opinion Survey Action Plan progress in 2016–17

Division

Branch

Action

EOS Key Focus Area

Status (actions underway or completed)

Policy, Planning and Investment

Transport Policy

Embedding and modelling flexible work arrangements

Organisational leadership

Manager capability

Implemented and arrangements ongoing

Transport Strategy and Planning

Implementation of a Job Shadow the Leaders program

Organisational leadership

Program implemented and at review stage

Portfolio Investment and Programming

Development and communication of a local level recruitment and selection protocol

Organisational fairness

Completed

TransLink

All branches

Implementation of capability planning for each branch

Organisational leadership

Organisational fairness

Ongoing

Customer Services, Safety and Regulation

Customer Services

Launch of a Values, Reward and Recognition program

Organisational leadership

Organisational fairness

Completed

Transport Regulation

Temporary and relieving monthly report made available to employees

Organisational fairness

Completed

Land Transport Safety

Development and delivery of a Difficult Conversations program

Organisational leadership

Manager capability

Completed

Maritime Safety Queensland

Transition Strategy Snapshots made available to employees

Organisational leadership

Completed

Infrastructure and Management Delivery

Program and Delivery Operations

Implementation of a recognition program

Organisational leadership

Organisational fairness

Completed

RoadTek

Delivery of a Performance Management Awareness Session across the state

Organisational leadership

Completed

Engineering and Technology

Update and implementation of a performance conversation template and factsheets

Organisational leadership

Middle manager capability

Completed

Corporate

Human Resources

Development and implementation of a branch purpose and great day at work principles

Organisational leadership

Completed

Finance and Procurement

Development and sharing of a Relief Register for roles less than eight weeks duration

Organisational fairness

Completed

Information Technology

Development and delivery of a one on one conversation tool

Organisational leadership

Completed

Governance

Delivery of team building workshops for the leadership team

Organisational leadership

Completed

Transport Network Security and Resilience (TNSR)

Conducted an audit of an implemented business governance tool around processes/communication for TNSR recruitment opportunities

Organisational fairness

Completed

Values and Culture network

Our OneTMR Values and Culture Network continued to encourage and foster Queensland's public service values across the department.

During the year, the network focused on:

being employer brand ambassadors for the department's Drive the Journey initiative

Despite these positive responses, areas for improvement or 'Culture Hot Spots' were still prevalent as workplace culture was cited as the second highest reason (behind other career opportunities) for people who intended to leave TMR in 2016. Culture Hot Spots (such as improvement to organisational leadership and organisational fairness) are being addressed through the TMR EOS Survey Action Plan which began its implementation in September 2016. It is expected as a result of these actions, 2017–18 results will show continued positive improvement in relation to Culture Hot Spots.

CUBIE Awards

The annual TMR CUBIE Awards continues on for its fourth year. CUBIE awards are provided based on the QPS Values.

Candidates are nominated and/or rewarded based on their commitment to the values and are awarded for the following categories.

Customers First

Unleash Potential

Be Courageous

Ideas into Action

Empower People

OneTMR individual

team and DG's All rounder

Staff anticipate the CUBIE Award presentation start.

The following outlines winners and commendations for 2016:

Customers First

Winner: Craig Russell (Corporate)

Highly Commended: Kirsty Birgan (CSSR), Colin Osmond (TransLink)

Craig has an excellent customer attitude, adds value by going the extra mile and offers whatever advice the customer needs. He has a wonderful demeanour and provides fabulous customer service. He looks for the best possible solution for his customers by thinking outside the box and finding innovative ways to make sure we receive the best option for our work environment.

Unleash potential

Winner: Sumit Khadka (IMD)

Highly Commended: Jodie Weller (TransLink), Navjeet Kaur (PPI)

Sumit provides inspiration and encouragement to everyone at all levels across regional operations. He is proactive in thinking of ways teams can continue to improve the delivery of projects in all their forms, including support functions such as procurement.

Sumit and his team developed a modified delivery strategy for the Bill Fulton bridge tender that involved a redesigning the abutment piles, saving the project around six months in delays.

Be courageous

Winner: Jane Hicks (IMD)

Highly Commended: Gary Wood (TransLink), Jodie Weller (TransLink)

Jane has a professional, principled approach and consistently applies those ethical standards to herself and others. She is consistent in word and actions which provides her with the ability to have courage and be forthright when providing advice.

Ideas into action

Winner: Kristin Hatchman (IMD)

Highly Commended: Shalon Farnell (CSSR), Scott Dight (IMD)

Kristin used her personal drive and motivation to put the idea of Social Procurement into action. Social Procurement is a relatively new practice, with no existing frameworks or instructions to follow. After attending a number of events focused on increasing awareness, Kristin decided to take action and commence a trial in her area.

Empower people

Brad is described as a stand-out TMR employee. He has obvious passion and enthusiasm for his role as a workplace trainer, always encouraging his workmates to succeed and empowering them to achieve their best.

Brad's efforts are going a long way to provide a group of people in Cape York the opportunity to gain skills in civil constructions and to build the capacity of local community to be involved in the developing their region.

OneTMR – team

Winner: ITB Incident Management (Corporate)

Highly Commended: Clare Murray and the Community Road Safety Team (CSSR), Cape York Region Package (CYRP) Program Team (IMD)

Although each of the ITB employees are from three different teams, they banded together with a common focus on the customers first value. They went above and beyond to ensure the Portsmith Marine Operations could continue to provide its critical services following a severed Telstra cable responsible for telecommunications capability to the site.

OneTMR – Individual

Winner: Scott Henderson (Corporate)

Highly Commended: Leighton Haworth (PPI), Kate Zocchi (Corporate)

Scott embodies what OneTMR is all about. He has been an amazing source of support for the intranet and online communication teams. He encourages his team to be courageous and take calculated risks.

Every opportunity Scott gets, he highlights the great work the SharePoint team in ITB are doing and emphasises the need for them to be resourced adequately to be able to support the things that the business wants to do with the platform.

DG's All rounder

Winner: Kate Carlson (TransLink)

Kate demonstrates the TMR values on a day‑to‑day basis. She sets the bar high personally and professionally and has significantly impacted the strategic direction of TransLink. Kate empowers those around her, providing advice and guidance when required. Her ability to see the big picture, identifying both issues and solutions has ensured success for the Strategic Projects team. Kate's courage and diplomacy has been instrumental in seeing many of her ideas put into action.

DG's All rounder

Winner: Jane Hicks (IMD)

Jane lends her exceptional skills to consistently shape services with a customer focus. Her passion and ability to translate strategy into operations has seen her deliver great results for TMR. Her work in Cultural Heritage showcases how she effectively manages challenging stakeholders with diplomacy, tact and professionalism.

Inclusion and diversity in the workplace

TMR is working towards being recognised as an inclusive organisation which embraces diversity of thought, culture, life experiences and people to ensure we reflect the communities we serve.

The focus areas for the duration of the current Inclusion and Diversity Strategy 2016–2020 are Women in Leadership, Cultural Diversity, People with Disability and creating an Inclusive and Diverse culture.

TMR has made significant progress this year through the department's women in leadership programs with the Executive Leadership Team proudly comprising of 50 per cent women as at May 31 2017.

Additional actions demonstrating the department's ongoing commitment to balanced gender representation include hosting the annual Diversity Forum. This year's event examined the issue of the gender pay gap. Continued support for events such as Queensland Women's Week and International Women's Day encourage our employees to engage in and understand the value of diverse work teams.

Women in Leadership

The Women in Leadership Mentoring Program has been offered again this year with 46 aspiring female leaders matched with mentors from across the department. This is in addition to the 74 matched pairs in the OneTMR Mentoring Program. Interest from both participants and volunteer mentors continues to grow based on the reported value for all involved in the program.

Indigenous Employee Network

The department's Cultural Capability Action Plan has been the vehicle for significant progress in 2016–17. The Indigenous Employee Network was formed in November 2016 at an inaugural forum to discuss issues of significance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees within TMR. Access to the collective knowledge and experience of this group is invaluable and facilitates consultation on cultural priorities for TMR.

Through the support of the department's Cultural Agency Leader, all Customer Service Centres now proudly display an acknowledgment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

TMR continues to value culture and celebrate culturally significant events including National Reconciliation Week, NAIDOC Week and World Refugee week.

TMR will continue to build a culture where people's differences are acknowledged and celebrated. The department continues to participate in the Diversity and Infrastructure industry group and is also proud to be represented on the whole of government LBGTIQ+ Steering Committee.

NAIDOC Week 2017.

TMR opening its arms to new Australians

The department was a host organisation for Multicultural Development Australia's (MDA) Work & Welcome program. TMR's involvement in this initiative demonstrates the department's commitment cultural diversity in our workplace and community.

The Work & Welcome program offers new Australians short-term paid work, providing an opportunity to gather local experience and develop skills and confidence needed to find ongoing employment in Australia. TMR recognises one of the most important ways to assist new Australians to builda prosperous life in our community involves creatingwelcoming workplaces.

Prathee enjoying work on a structure in Main Channel, Moreton Bay, during his time with MSQ.

While the key purpose of the program is to provide work experience for new Australians, the placements also assist employees in understanding some of the challenges faced by people who have been forced to seek a new life in a country with a completely different language and culture.

Throughout 2016, TMR hosted five new Australians in a variety of roles across the department. Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) was the first work group to participate in the Work & Welcome program by facilitating a field work placement for Prathee Sivakolluntau.